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Glenn Beck Issues Challenge/Pledge of Non-Violence

This was written in response to the Tucson shootings. There's about 5 paragraphs before the quote begins. The quoted bit is the challenge/pledge and its intro. That's where I'd like to focus. Please don't spin this into a Glenn Beck hate echo chamber just because Beck's name is on it. Please focus on the content itself.

Originally Posted by Glenn Beck

Turning these horrific events into an opportunity for a political attack is a very childish response to a very grown-up problem. This is not about winning a political blame game. Atheists are not to blame. Those who hate George W. Bush are not to blame. Those who don’t believe in space travel are not to blame. Jared Lee Loughner is to blame. Period.

This tragedy should not be used as an opportunity to try and bend reality to retroactively place a madman on the other side of the aisle. It should be a time to pray for the victims and their families, a time that we can all come together and state that violence is off limits for all sides in a Republic. It’s a time for us to state with a unified passion that we won’t accept anyone who threatens or actually carries out violence.

Denouncing violence from all sides including your own does not make your movement any less just. To quote Martin Luther King:

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

I challenge all Americans, left or right, regardless if you’re a politician, pundit, painter, priest, parishioner, poet or porn star to agree with all of the following.

I denounce violence, regardless of ideological motivation.

I denounce anyone, from the Left, the Right or middle, who believes physical violence is the answer to whatever they feel is wrong with our country.

I denounce those who wish to tear down our system and rebuild it in their own image, whatever that image may be.

I denounce those from the Left, the Right or middle, who call for riots and violence as an opportunity to bring down and reconstruct our system.

I denounce violent threats and calls for the destruction of our system – regardless of their underlying ideology – whether they come from the Hutaree Militia or Frances Fox Piven.

I hold those responsible for the violence, responsible for the violence. I denounce those who attempt to blame political opponents for the acts of madmen.

I denounce those from the Left, the Right or middle that sees violence as a viable alternative to our long established system of change made within the constraints of our constitutional Republic.

I will stand with anyone willing to sign that pledge. Today I make a personal choice. I urge leaders of both sides and all walks of life to join me as all Americans joined hands on 9.12.2001.

I believe that we must change ourselves to hold on to our republic. That’s why I have been talking about e4. Enlightenment. Education. Empowerment. Entrepreneurship. It’s a personal solution for all of us to become the people we were born to be, not the people we’ve allowed ourselves to become. I have called for a personal revolution; change ourselves in order to change the world. Those who live with honor and are responsible to themselves and their families will be the key to the future of our Republic, not those playing political games.

A rather stark contrast from the other responses to the Tucson shootings, no?

Who here's willing to sign that pledge? I am. Are you? Who out there in the public, the media, and other places is? Let's see if we can keep track of who here, in the public, and in the media, says yes to this, and who dismisses it in cloud of Beck hate. That will be very telling about those people.

Again please focus on the CONTENT of the challenge/pledge and not Glenn Beck. Since I'm starting this thread, I'm going to openly call for the deletion of any random comment about Beck, i.e. "Glenn Beck is a hypocrite. Now he's calling for non-violence, but where was he when Palin made her crosshair map?", that does not focus on the content of this challenge/pledge. I hope the Mods here will support me with that. This isn't about Beck. This is about the challenge/pledge and ONLY the challenge/pledge. Please keep it to that.

Last edited by DodgersFan28; 01-11-2011 at 05:49 AM.

"If [Republicans] were around when Columbus set sail, they must have been founding members of the Flat Earth Society." -- Pres. Barack Obama

I know you don't want to hear it DF, but I don't respect Glenn Beck enough or take him seriously to take this pledge seriously. Yes on paper it looks great, and I agree with his points...but for lack of a better comparison it's like Bernie Madoff creating a '10 commandments of trust and responsible investing'. Point being, when you've made your own reputation for yourself, and acted a certain way for 2 years. Don't expect people to all of the sudden take you seriously. Consider the source.

Beck's rhetoric and doomsday diatribe have been spoken about ad-nauseum, so there's no need to rehash it, but I'm more with philab's school of thought that I will not contribute to this man's celebrity. Of course nobody is going to disagree with the principles in this pledge. However, it's really like saying: "This man posted 5 reasons to love America, will YOU support him?". The rationale is a bit ridiculous, IMO.

I agree with all of the pledge's content to begin with. If "today I'm making a personal choice", what kind of choices were being made yesterday? Before this pledge?

Certainly nothing to disagree with in terms of what he's saying, but these are the standards we should all be holding ourselves to already. It seems he's trying to hard to appear like he's reaching across the aisle to find common ground, and while that's not really a bad thing, the whole thing reeks of him trying too hard, IMO.

Again please focus on the CONTENT of the challenge/pledge and not Glenn Beck. Since I'm starting this thread, I'm going to openly call for the deletion of any random comment about Beck, i.e. "Glenn Beck is a hypocrite. Now he's calling for non-violence, but where was he when Palin made her crosshair map?", that does not focus on the content of this challenge/pledge. I hope the Mods here will support me with that. This isn't about Beck. This is about the challenge/pledge and ONLY the challenge/pledge. Please keep it to that.

I wrote out the above urge to not make it about Beck for a reason. What if I put this up while wiping away Beck's name from it? That may have been productive, but it wouldn't have been honest. Focus on the CONTENT OF THE PLEDGE, not the name attached to it.

Originally Posted by PunkShizzle

I agree with all of the pledge's content to begin with. If "today I'm making a personal choice", what kind of choices were being made yesterday? Before this pledge?

Agreeing, or signing up for the pledge, doesn't mean you were doing anything different yesterday. I just means you've re-affirmed all of it now in the wake of the Tucson shootings.

Last edited by DodgersFan28; 01-11-2011 at 10:42 PM.

"If [Republicans] were around when Columbus set sail, they must have been founding members of the Flat Earth Society." -- Pres. Barack Obama

I hold those responsible for the violence, responsible for the violence. I denounce those who attempt to blame political opponents for the acts of madmen.

This only holds true unless you arent talking about Obama being radical because he served on a board with Bill Ayers. Other than that it is totally words to live by.

You ask that Glenn not be involved in this, but he is the one who authored this and expects us to "do what i say, not what i do". I refuse to accept that. I will develop my code and Glenn can have his.

This was written in response to the Tucson shootings. There's about 5 paragraphs before the quote begins. The quoted bit is the challenge/pledge and its intro. That's where I'd like to focus. Please don't spin this into a Glenn Beck hate echo chamber just because Beck's name is on it. Please focus on the content itself.

A rather stark contrast from the other responses to the Tucson shootings, no?

Who here's willing to sign that pledge? I am. Are you? Who out there in the public, the media, and other places is? Let's see if we can keep track of who here, in the public, and in the media, says yes to this, and who dismisses it in cloud of Beck hate. That will be very telling about those people.

Again please focus on the CONTENT of the challenge/pledge and not Glenn Beck. Since I'm starting this thread, I'm going to openly call for the deletion of any random comment about Beck, i.e. "Glenn Beck is a hypocrite. Now he's calling for non-violence, but where was he when Palin made her crosshair map?", that does not focus on the content of this challenge/pledge. I hope the Mods here will support me with that. This isn't about Beck. This is about the challenge/pledge and ONLY the challenge/pledge. Please keep it to that.

Glenb Beck of all people denouncing calls for violence? Perhaps this would have a cent of credibility if it wasn't the same Glenn Beck that had a segment called "The War Room" and said he wished a hurricane would wipe out New York City.

He's only saying what he thinks will make him and other conservatives look good right now and someone would have to have an awfully short memory to buy into any of this.

I have a hard time taking a challenge from someone who preaches one thing yet also preaches the opposite end of the spectrum.

Don't get me wrong, the majority of that content is what damn near everyone in the nation would say and agree with. But, coming from Beck (or if it were to come from Manson...not that I'm comparing them AT ALL...just making the point of them having poor public images), I can't take it seriously.

I stopped at Glenn Beck's show yesterday when switching channels, and it appears that he is using this as some prop, and for his own personal gain. It reminds me of when he had the red phone, and when it didn't ring it was somehow "proof" that everything he's saying is right.